Recent conflict research has relied on proxy variables of horizontal inequality to make causal assumptions, but these do not reveal the root of deprivation in aggrieved populations. However, it is important to continue to explore the greed-grievance dichotomy to explain the persistence of violent civil conflict. The purpose of this quantitative study was to expand this line of inquiry by investigating the relationship between indicators of vertical deprivation and reported civil conflict incidents to determine whether a significant correlation exists. Relative deprivation theory provided the framework for this study, which consisted of 10,779 survey responses regarding lived experience across 7 countries experiencing a total of 890 civil conflict incidents in 2016. Although tests of multiple linear regression indicated statistically significant relationships (p < .001) between two of the predictor variables and reported civil conflict incidents, the availability of electricity when connected to the main made the most substantial contribution to the model in both predictability and correlation. Therefore, the findings provide insight into the type and nature of deprivations, such as those associated with access to and availability of electricity, that have the greatest potential of becoming grievances susceptible to exploitation by conflict entrepreneurs. Implications for positive social change include using this analysis to promote increased conflict inquiry among public administration scholars and to inform a more substantive role of local government managers in identifying and remediating vertical grievances, thereby mitigating civil conflict.

This thesis explores the impact of drought on communal violence, posing the research question: How does drought influence the occurrence of communal violence? Considering empirical evidence and theoretical postulations from previous research, economic grievances are introduced as a crucial factor in the causal pathway between drought and communal violence. Thus, two hypotheses are put forward to address the research question: incidences of communal violence will increase following droughts (H1), and an increase in economic grievances is associated with an increase in communal violence incidence in instances following drought (H2). The study employs a quantitative analysis utilizing climate, conflict, socioeconomic, and geographic information systems (GIS) data, employing generalizedlinear mixed models (GLMMs) in R to test the hypotheses for Kenya from 1997 to 2012. The findings indicate the inability to reject the null hypothesis for H1, suggesting no significant increase in communal violence following drought. The null hypothesis for H2 is generally not rejected, except for in one model, suggesting an association between economic grievances and communal violence 12 months following drought. While this thesis contributes to understanding the link between drought, economic grievances, and communal violence, further research is needed to explore alternative research designs, geographical contexts, and time periods.

This thesis investigates the potential relationship between support for radical right-wing parties and the increased employment rates of women in member states of the European Union. While previous research has predominantly focused on immigration, by virtue of grievances, as a driver of radical right-wing support, this study explores whether increases in the employment ratio of women can also be perceived as a threat and contribute to this support. The rationale for examining this assumption is rooted in the understanding of radical right-wing parties as Männerparteien, being primarily supported and led by men. By analyzing time-series cross-sectional data from thirteen EU member states over twenty time periods, this study reveals a positive correlation between the employment rates of women and support for radical right-wing parties. This finding aligns with the concept of group threat theory, suggesting that increases in the employment ratio of women can indeed be perceived as a threat. The finding highlights the complex dynamics and potential resistance that arise when traditional power dynamics are challenged, emphasizing the need for comprehensive approaches to address these barriers and promote gender equality. The study also reveals a positive correlation between support for radical right-wing parties and the attainment of advanced education for men, as well as a negative correlation between radical right-wing support and increased GDP. The findings offer valuable insights to previous research and lay the groundwork for future studies in various research fields by yielding further insights into the group dynamics between men and women and by proposing the use of additional explanatory variables in explaining radical right-wing support.

Since the wave of civil violence in the USA in the 1960s, many social theorists have tried to explain why riots occur. Despite at least 50 years of research since then, there is still not enough insight to anticipate large events like the 2011 Arab Spring and London riots. The main goal of this thesis is therefore to improve understanding about how underlying conditions influence and drive riot dynamics, such as the intensity, spread, and duration. I develop a new mechanistic and stochastic agent-based model for riots. Previous models have either only targeted general phenomena associated with riots, or aimed at behaviour specific to a single event. In this thesis I combine both approaches: I demonstrate how the model in which the motivation of the agents is based on general concepts, can be applied to the specific situation of the 2011 London riots. The model reproduces the majority of the behaviour observed in the London riots (r = 0.4-0.8). One of the key factors under investigation is the relationship between protests and outbursts of civil violence. Riots are often preceded by protests, such that a large pool of potential rioters is directly available. I find that the number of times a protest is repeated has greater influence on riot dynamics than the protest crowd size. The support shown during demonstrations might incite false confidence in individuals, potentially leading to quicker escalation. Another question is how contact networks and collective identity influence the spread of violence between different locations. The role of online social media (e.g. Twitter) has been a major focus in trying to explain why the violence in the 2011 Arab spring spread so quickly and so far. I investigate the role of social similarity as another factor that might have contributed to the diffusion of unrest, and demonstrate the existence of a critical transition in riot activity when increasing the density of the contact network in the model. Such increases in density beyond the critical thresholds might have been introduced by online social networks. Finally, I explore the sensitivity to cooperation of different potential riot groups. In some cases, mixed populations with different collective identities can form coalitions within neighbourhoods based on shared grievances, which could lead to increases in riot size and riot probability. I examine the influence of the social structure and spread of these populations over different neighbourhoods, as well as the overlap in grievances and different demographic structures.

The aim of this study is to make a comparative study between the grievances during the Dacke Warand the German Peasant´s War. These two conflicts may have occurred separately, regarding bothgeographical and chronological distances but also share common issues for this comparative study.Less than two decades separates these two conflicts and they were all by their own serious insurrectionsduring their time. While the German Peasant´s War was the greatest uprising in Europe up tothe French Revolution, the Dacke War was the biggest Peasant Rebellion in Scandinavian history.While the German Peasant War has been studied and researched by historians for a relative longtime, the Dacke War has been neglected in research history. If it were not for the Swedish professorLars-Olof Larsson’s studies during foremost in the 1960s, the Dacke War would have been a historicallyuncharted territory of research indeed. This study aims to foremost supplement the unsatisfiedresearch on the Dacke War, but also supplement the research of The German Peasant war, with thiscomparative study. Although is exists a somewhat considerable amount of studies and theories regardinggeneral peasant uprisings and revolts from this period, researchers are still debating themain causes for these violent conflicts. The combination of different geographical and social differencesand insufficient sources makes studies about theses conflicts both problematic and complex.The result of this comparative study, show that both uprisings shared both common and differentkinds of grievances where generally the rebels of the German Peasant´s War had a larger propotionof demands than the rebels of the Dacke War. In Sweden the grievances was largely made up bycomplaints. While the German Peasant´s War was generally more radical and religious motivatedthan the Dacke War, it shared many similarities to each other, especially when it came to economicand economical complaints. While the German Peasants (although not all rebel-groups) made radicaldemands, such as the abolishment of serfdom, the rebels during the Dacke War were more intenton restoring their former rights and customs. Therefore the Swedish peasantry motivated theircomplaints by claiming they had juridical rights and legal claims to motivate rebellion. The Germanpeasants on the other hand, although also sharing the same motives but in somewhat lesser degree,had less legal rights and therefore motivated their demands in religious terms. The reason why thegrievances during the Dacke War mostly can be categorized as complaints instead of demands, maybe explained how influential and political equal the Swedish peasants were as a social group and estatein Swedish society compared to the many peasants living in serfdom in the Holy Roman Empire.This is also why German rebels more often legitimized their demands with religious motive,because they lacked the political power as social group and estate.

While issues remain under-researched, peace agreement success has been linked primarily to the proper treatment of the parties’ security-related concerns. This study explores why some peace agreements succeed while others fail by using an issue-based approach arguing that issues are an expression of underlying grievances, which have caused the rebel groups to engage in armed conflict. Therefore, peace agreements that do not address the issues, which reflect grievances, will fail. I tested the hypothesis and the proposed theoretical relationship through the structured focused comparison of three peace agreements: The Lomé Peace Agreement, the Accra Peace Agreement and the Final Agreement National Government – Popular Liberation Army. The method employed in this study comprised first, determining the salience the rebel groups assigned to their issues -for which it was necessary to create a measure for issue salience- and second, examining the peace agreement’s provisions to determine if the rebel group’s issues were addressed. The results show that peace agreements that included the salient issues of the groups failed; however, peace agreements that did not include them, succeeded. Hence, the findings suggest that the inclusion of the rebel group’s issues in the peace agreement cannot account for the agreement’s success or failure.

Ce mémoire porte sur l’impact de la victoire des rebelles lors d’un conflit civil sur l’amélioration des conditions de vies des populations. Les conflits civils sont souvent déclenchés en raison des griefs sociaux, économiques et politiques que peuvent avoir la population et les groupes rebelles contre le gouvernement en place. Mais jusqu’ici, la littérature sur les conflits civils et plus précisément sur l’après-guerre ne nous a pas permis de savoir si, dans les cas où le groupe rebelle sort victorieux du conflit, celui-ci apporte une réponse positive aux griefs qui avaient été soulevés au début du conflit. Autrement dit, observe-t-on une amélioration des conditions socio-économiques des populations après cette victoire ? La recherche menée ici infirme notre hypothèse. Celle-ci stipulait que : le soutien populaire étant nécessaire la plupart du temps au succès d’un groupe rebelle, la légitimité ainsi acquise lui permettrait de gouverner de manière plus démocratique et juste qu’un gouvernement vainqueur et donc, d’apporter des améliorations aux conditions de vie de la population. Après une étude empirique dotée d’analyses de régression simple et multiple, par laquelle on compare plusieurs cas de conflits civils ayant débouché sur la victoire des rebelles et ceux ayant débouché sur la victoire des gouvernements, il en ressort que la victoire des rebelles ne conduit pas à une amélioration des conditions socio-économiques dans le pays. Au contraire, ces conditions se détériorent légèrement dans notre échantillon, tandis qu’on observe une amélioration dans les cas de victoire des gouvernements. Aussi, le mécanisme causal qui faisait donc du régime politique après le conflit une variable intermédiaire entre le résultat du conflit et les conditions socio-économiques, n’est pas confirmé. / This study is about the impact of the rebels’ victory in a civil conflict on improving the living conditions of the population. Civil conflicts are often triggered by social, economic, and political grievances that population and rebel groups may have against the government. However, so far, the literature on civil conflicts and more specifically, on the post-war period has not enabled us to know whether, in cases where the rebel group emerges victorious from the conflict, it provides a positive response to the grievances that had been raised at the start of the conflict. In other words, is there an improvement in the socio-economic conditions of the populations after this victory? The research carried out here refutes our hypothesis. We assume that popular support being necessary most of the time for the success of a rebel group, the legitimacy thus acquired will allow the rebel group to govern more democratically and fairly than a winning government and therefore to improve the living conditions of the population. After an empirical study with simple and multiple regression analysis, by which we compare several cases of civil conflicts, which led to rebel victory and those that led to government victory, it emerges that rebel victory does not lead to an improvement in socio-economic conditions. On the contrary, these conditions deteriorate slightly in our sample, while we observe an improvement in cases where the government is victorious. In addition, our explanatory mechanism, which made the post-conflict political regime an intermediate variable between the outcome of the conflict and socio-economic conditions, is not confirmed.

attitudes amongst the members of different races towards the implementation of affirmative action in the Correctional Services Department of South Africa. A literature study on affirmative action was completed and thereafter a questionnaire was developed. An emperical study was done by questionnaire on the determination of perceptions and attitudes of members of the South African Correctional Services Department towards the application of Affirmative Action policies. serious problems if not correctly managed. It was established that the success in any affirmative action strategy rests on the understanding and acceptance of cultural diversity as manifested in perceptions and attitudes. Management information systems needs to be effective and efficient at all times. Changing perceptions and attitudes increased passion and job satisfaction. Recommendations are made for further research on aspects highlighted by the findings. / Penology / M.A. (Penology)

attitudes amongst the members of different races towards the implementation of affirmative action in the Correctional Services Department of South Africa. A literature study on affirmative action was completed and thereafter a questionnaire was developed. An emperical study was done by questionnaire on the determination of perceptions and attitudes of members of the South African Correctional Services Department towards the application of Affirmative Action policies. serious problems if not correctly managed. It was established that the success in any affirmative action strategy rests on the understanding and acceptance of cultural diversity as manifested in perceptions and attitudes. Management information systems needs to be effective and efficient at all times. Changing perceptions and attitudes increased passion and job satisfaction. Recommendations are made for further research on aspects highlighted by the findings. / Penology / M.A. (Penology)